Ice skates have been used for recreational and transportation purposes for hundreds of years. Originally, some sort of low friction sliding device akin to a metal blade was attached using straps to a conventional boot. Ultimately, in the past century, boots specifically intended for use only in ice skating evolved, typically with the blade firmly affixed to the boot. The unitary blade and boot had the advantage of rigidity allowing more speed and control than previously possible.
For many years, it has been understood that there may be an advantage to providing a replaceable sharpened blade for ice skates. With heavy use, typically a conventional skate blade will wear out before the boot portion. Accordingly, there is an advantage to extending the life of the skate by replacing the blade rather than replacing the entire skate.
Certain of the prior art attempts to provide replaceable skate blades have involved replacement of a relatively heavy, and thus expensive, metal portion of the skate with substantial removal and fastening difficulties. Some such replaceable blades were intended to be sharpened a number of times before replacement. See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,749 to Olivieri. In other prior art attempts, the replaceable blade, although lightweight, has not been effectively mounted on the rocker to provide the security required particularly by advanced skaters. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,108,128 to Kinney. Still other replacement blades have been of a complex construction not easily adapted to inexpensive commercial production. See, for example, German Patent No. 724488 to Dornseif and U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,050 to Isely. Moreover, replaceable blades have tended to be prone to breakage owing to the structure of the blade and the tension under which the blade is placed in order to stretch it along the base of a skate blade. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,674 to Cann, et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,683 to Venier et al. describes a replaceable blade system in which the shortcomings of the prior art, including the excess breakage associated with the Cann patent configuration, has been solved using a novel means to connect the flexible replaceable blade to the skate so that it is pulled more or less longitudinally and tensioned evenly along its length. A torque limiting device provides for easy replacement and adjustment of blades by consumers without damage to the skate or the replaceable blade. A limitation of this arrangement is that the associated attachment and tensioning mechanism is complex and requires a separate torque limiting tool to operate. An additional problem of the Venier patent is that the tensioning mechanism requires a high stiffness and high strength rigid holder for mounting.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,664 to DeMars describes a blade system that includes a replacement runner that may be rapidly, removably coupled to the holder of the skate. The blade system of DeMars utilizes a single piece, replacement runner that integrally incorporates a blade and is adapted to be retained in the holder of the skate by a slot and pin at its forward end and a locking mechanism at its rear end. The locking mechanism consists of a linear sliding latch with an array of springs and a release button located in the rear face of the holder. A limitation of this arrangement is that it requires a highly complex shaped cavity within the skate holder to interact with the linear sliding latch member. A further limitation of the DeMars patent is that the release button can only be placed on the rear face of the holder where inadvertent release could be induced by contact with hockey sticks, pucks and the like. Another problem with this configuration is that it requires an ejection mechanism to aid in removing the runner from the holder. Finally, the linear sliding latch mechanism of DeMars could not be integrated into styled holders that incorporate aesthetic apertures.
The present invention solves these prior art problems by providing a simple rotary retention latch located within an enclosed chamber of the holder of the skate. The rotary retention latch is configured with a release lever that is adapted to be accessed through an aesthetic aperture in the holder. This rotary latch configuration can be utilized to retain a pivoting rocker section that holds a flexible replaceable blade in tension or for securing a single piece, replaceable runner that integrally incorporates a blade. This arrangement is superior to the Venier configuration in that it does not require a separate torque limiting tool to operate, the tensioning loads are contained within the rocker so the holder can be constructed from regular plastic materials and the number of parts and complexity are significantly reduced. Additionally this arrangement is superior to the DeMars prior art in that it eliminates the requirement for a highly complex shaped cavity in the holder and integrates the release lever into an aesthetic aperture in the holder preventing inadvertent release induced by contact with hockey sticks, pucks and the like. This configuration of rotary latch that includes an integrated release lever accessed through an aesthetic aperture is extremely well suited to the industry standard hollow molded holders and provides a solution for holders that are styled with aesthetic apertures.